


The Adventure Begins

by Onenerddot



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, This started as a what if oneshot and turned into a novel, shameless self insert fic don't at me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26995186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onenerddot/pseuds/Onenerddot
Summary: All Aleah has known in her life is strange prayer rituals and magic. The outside world is all stories and dreams. It all comes crashing down when an important ritual is interrupted by a group of adventurers stumbling through.Now with the Nein she has to learn to navigate the outside world, her own magical abilities, and who she is without the people who raised her for as long as she could remember.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	1. Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, This is my first fic for the fandom that has consumed my life for almost a year now. It started with the thought of, what happens to the people the Nein save/ where do they go.  
> Fair warning, I am mean to my characters, I love them but I like watching them grow over time.

Aleah gasped as the cultist flung her down on the altar in the center of the room. Something popped softly in her shoulder sending fire jolting through it. Two of the others grabbed the chains that bound her wrists, pulling them to the sides of the small altar.  


"Know child, that while it hurts now. You will be stronger later because of this." Their chief priest said smoothing the hair out of her face. Aleah responded by tugging against her chains again in protest.  


"Now now. None of that." She crooned cupping her hand under her chin to force Aleah to look at her again. Aleah glared up at her in response as one of the younger members brought the box with the ceremony daggers for the high priest and priestess.  


"Shall we begin, little guardian?" The priestess asked as the cultist around them began to chant.  
***  


"No fluffernutter you two. There's a chance they have innocents inside. Also, we need to be able to get out of here again. They could bring down the roof of the cave and trap us in here." Fjord scolded Jester and Veth as they sat outside what they assumed was the main cave where the cultists held rituals.  


"Don't be silly Fjord. We wouldn't be trapped in there, Caleb could just draw a circle to get us out of there." Jester replied.  


"Fjord is right. Besides, we can just send Frumpkin in to see what's happening. No need to start it off violently if we can get in and out without any at all." Caleb said snapping his cat into existence at his feet and grabbing onto Beau's shoulder as his expression went blank. Frumpkin came back a moment later as Caleb blinked back into his own senses.  


"They're starting some sort of ritual. I couldn't see much but they started chanting as I was leaving." He said.  


"Veth, you're up front. Go for one of the leaders if you can." Fjord said as everyone geared up.  


"Aye aye captain!" Veth grinned as she knocked a bolt onto her crossbow.  
***  


Aleah blinked blearily up at the priestess as she continued to chant whatever prayer they had wanted to do tonight. Her shoulder was numb now where it had popped earlier and she feared for what had been broken this time. There was always blood drawn during the long prayers but this one was going a lot farther than she remembered any of the others going. She knew there were several cuts up and down her legs and arms now. What was getting her was the sharp runes they had started carving into her stomach and sides now.  


Her eyes had drifted closed again when the cultist above her stuttered in their prayer for a moment. Her eyes snapped open again to see a crossbow bolt jammed deep into the cultists shoulder as another one hit the cultist just behind her. They dropped immediately as the sound of fighting broke out behind her. The room hummed with magic as the priestess tried to complete the prayer. A bolt of sparkling light slammed into the priestess and she hissed in frustration.  


"Blessed be you by the Angel dear child. You will be a guardian still." She hissed into Aleah's ear as she jammed her dagger deep into her side. She shrieked in pain arching to get away from them to no avail. Another crossbow bolt hit the priestess a moment later and she collapsed over top of Aleah on the altar.  
***  


The last of the cultists had either surrendered or were down after a couple more well aimed spells from Caleb and Caduceus. Cad's beetles continued to swarm around him as they all paused post battle to check they were all still standing. Caleb had already started for the altar where the high priestess had collapsed as Jester moved about healing Beau and Veth who had taken a few hits from some of the mages in the cult. Caleb reached the altar to find that unfortunately the priestess' prayer book was too damaged to make much of at this point.  


Caleb jumped slightly in surprise as the girl chained to the altar coughed a bit and tried to shift away from him.  


"Shit." He muttered as he moved to get the priestess off of her. "Caduceus! Jester!" He called as he shoved the body of the priestess to the ground. There was still a thin sharp dagger sunk deep into the young girls' side and her body was littered with small but deep cuts that still bled even now.  


Cad made it up to the altar first, surveying the scene he had come into.  


"She's still alive, barely." Caleb said unhooking the chains that held her arms out to her sides on the table. Caduceus mumbled something in response as he checked her over, his hand pausing near the dagger in her side.  


"It needs to come out. I can't heal her while it's still in there." he said. Caleb nodded moving to a better place to grab the dagger. In one motion the dagger was out and Cad pushed a fairly high level cure wounds into the girl. She surged up coughing suddenly as the spell took effect. Caduceus moved a bit to support her as the coughing subsided and she seemed to become more aware of her surroundings. Her eyes locked on Caleb first, then the rest of the group as they began approaching the altar where she still sat. Caleb saw the flash of panic across her face seconds before she was scrabbling backwards away from him and the others coming up the dais.  


"Wait-" Caduceus started as she almost crab-walked backwards towards the edge of the table. He wasn't quick enough to grab her as she tumbled off the back of it, crashing to the ground hard. Caleb winced at the cracking sounds that had come with it. A ragged gasp came from the girl as she dragged herself back towards the steps.  


"We're here to help. Please, you are injured.' Cad said kneeling down to her level now. Her eyes were still wide with panic and fear as she stared up at Cad, still inching her way backwards. Just as she was about to reach the first step, sending her tumbling again, Caleb swore under his breath reaching into his component bag and drawing out a pinch of sand and casting sleep towards the girl. She faltered for a second, fighting against the spell before finally slumping down at the edge of the stairs, asleep for now.  


"I didn't think she was still alive after all that. How'd you know Caleb?" Fjord asked as Jester and Caduceus started looking the girl over for other injuries.  


"I didn't. I was hoping the priestesses book would have something useful in it. She was still trying to breathe when I got up here." Caleb said with a shrug holding up what was left of the book. "Sleep only lasts a minute so if one of you has calm emotions you might want to get it ready." He called out to the clerics. Caduceus waved a response, not looking away from the girl and Caleb felt the spell fade.  


“Easy, we’re here to help.” He heard Cad say as the spell washed over them. The girl seemed to relax again as he began to speak, softer this time, to where Caleb couldn’t hear what he was saying.  


"What in the hells were they doing to her?" Beau asked, not really expecting an answer as she surveyed the altar in front of them.  


"Yasha, can you carry her? She's still very injured but I'm out of spells and so is Jester." He heard Caduceus ask. Yasha nodded coming forward to scoop up the form of the girl.  


She must have passed out from the pain and blood loss. Caleb thought.  


"I can patch her up more when we get back but she'll probably still need more healing in the morning. If she'll take it when she's fully coherent." Caduceus said as they gathered up near the entrance of the room.  


"Here, Yasha. I can get those cuffs off of her." Veth said, darting to her with lock picks already in hand. In a matter of seconds they had them off and discarded leaving only the angry red marks on the girls wrists as evidence they had ever been there.  


"Back to the inn everyone. We'll figure out what's next in the morning." Fjord said leading the way back out of the caves towards town.


	2. Caduceus & Caleb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in a strange place is not something Aleah was accustomed to. Strangers that seem to care, even less so.

Aleah woke in a room softly lit with early dawn light, not remembering where she was. The bed was a lot softer than the thin cot she'd had before and there was actually some substance to the blanket she had draped over her. 

The events of the day started coming back to her. The ritual, much more intense than anything before had ever been, and then the fighting. The high priestess had stabbed her, hard. She remembered that, and then it all started to blur. Most of it was a haze of pain and noise. She remembered someone healing her and the panic after, then nothing. 

Had she run? 

Did she hurt the people who had stopped the ritual? 

Probably not. If they could take down the whole congregation she shouldn't have been much of a problem at all. 

Her chains were gone, she realized, replaced with a wrap of bandages. Those chains hadn't been off in a very long time. 

She pushed herself upright, taking in the space around her when she finally realized she wasn't alone in the room. A large woman with dark braids sat in the armchair near the door, arms crossed and head slumped to one side, clearly still at least somewhat asleep. There was another bed on the other side of the room that was empty but mussed as if someone had slept in it earlier and was now gone. Maybe the woman in the chair had been there earlier and had moved for some reason. 

She was just contemplating how to sneak past the woman without waking her when she heard footsteps and voices on the other side of the door. She scrambled back against the head of the bed as the door opened and a firbolg with pale pink hair poked his head in. 

"Miss Yasha, would you like us to bring you something for breakfast?" He asked. The woman in the chair sat up, looking towards the door. 

"Caleb said he'd bring something up already. He should be back soon." She said softly. For such a large woman she spoke so gently. The firbolg at the door nodded then his ears seemed to flick towards her, as if noticing something. 

"Ah, awake at last." He said and looked directly at her. Aleah squeaked, trying to press herself back into the wall and headboard even further that she already was. 

"You are safe, child. There is no need to be scared." The firbolg said stepping into the room past the chair and the woman, Yasha. He was entirely too big to seem so calming and gentle. 

"We didn't have enough magic to heal you fully last night. How are you feeling this morning?" He asked holding his hands out to show he wasn't holding anything, as he stepped into the room between the two beds. He glanced over at Yasha who had moved to guard the door. 

"Maybe get Caleb, he might be able to help." He said. She nodded and slipped out, heading to find this Caleb person. 

Aleah kept herself pressed firmly into the corner of the bed, as far from the man as possible. He had stopped a few feet from the bed, just watching her as she stared back, eyes wide with fear. She was trying to figure out the best way out of this and between the window and the door she wasn't sure she could make it to either before he could. She needed a distraction, that's all. Half a second where he wasn't staring directly at her. 

That came a moment later as the door pushed open again and a man with red hair and books strapped under his arms stepped into the room. The firbolg glanced over at him but it was enough. Aleah sputtered out the incantation of a spell she'd only used twice. It had almost gotten her out of the undertemple until the spell had ended. With a little Haste though she should be able to at the very least get out and past these two. Neither of them could be that fast. 

And then, the spell was gone. The power built had vanished and the man with the books had his hand out towards her in the last motion of a counterspell. 

"Easy. We want to help. You've torn open your side again. Let Caduceus heal you and we can talk." He said. The lilt of an accent still prevalent in his voice. 

"I can't be here. The priests will be mad. I'm not supposed to go anywhere without a guard." She murmured, her eyes darting between the two of them in the room. The man with the books frowned. Aleah slid down the wall hugging her arms around herself as she curled into a ball in the corner of the bed. She could feel the side of the shirt she was wearing was sticky with blood now, which she was pretty sure was a recent development. The acolytes that did study work with her the day after prayer would be angry she was gone and they couldn't get their numbers for the day. What would they do when she got back, would they have another ceremony like last night. She didn't remember much of it but it wasn't fun and- 

A hand pressed into the top of her head and she felt the warm pulse of healing magic pour into her along with another spell she didn't recognize at first till the panic seemed to recede back in her mind. Present still, but not as all consuming as it had been a moment ago. 

"Easy, easy. You're going to hurt yourself more. You're safe." The firbolg, Caduceus the book man had called him, murmured as he settled at the foot of the bed as far from her as he could be while still on the bed. 

"We have a minute Caleb. It’s not a long spell." He said as the other knelt down at the edge of the bed to look at her. 

"You don't know us but I promise we are here to help you. During whatever was happening last night, they tried to kill you rather than get you out. Either you are very important to them or you were just another sacrifice. Based on your reaction to being here I'm going to go with the first option. They're gone. They can't hurt you anymore and we are here to help if we can." The man, Caleb, said. He watched her as she processed all this, the veil of Calm Emotions keeping her from truly reacting. 

"The spell is going to drop in a moment. " Caduceus said, not really directing it to either of them. Caleb nodded in understanding, moving back from the bed a bit as the suppressed panic surged back up. 

"They aren't all gone. They can't be. It’s not possible. Who are you to tell me I'm safe?" 

"Those that were at the temple last night are gone. Some fled, I'm sure but we'll find them in time. I'm sure Jester will gladly scry out anyone that's gone too far for us to just track." Caduceus said. 

"We are the Mighty Nein. Adventurers picking up jobs where we go to earn a little coin and help where we can. This town asked us to look into strange happenings in the woods outside of town. Strange, powerful magic and people not from here. That led us to the temple where they promptly attacked us when we entered the building. You were in the last room, they were doing some sort of ritual from what we can gather.” 

“Prayer is dramatic at times. I think that’s why we moved around so much. People didn’t like us in many towns. Not that I saw any of them. I just would hear about it from the acolytes.” 

“So, they’ve tried to kill you before?” Caduceus seemed both confused and concerned by this. 

“They’ve never tried to kill me intentionally. It’s been close before but not because they were trying to. Last night was different though. We’ve never been attacked mid ritual.” 

“But you’ve almost died before because of them. That’s not right or normal at all. The people that take care of you shouldn’t also hurt you. At least not intentionally.” 

“Cad is right. It’s not normal for things like that to happen.” 

“What now then? You said they were gone?” Aleah asked. 

“Right now, you need to rest. Magic can only heal so much. It will take time to get back on your feet as normal.” Caleb said. Cad nodding in agreement. 

“Someone can sit in here with you while you rest if you don’t want to be alone. We have a few more things to sort out in town so it will be another day or two before we are ready to leave and we can go from there.” Caleb said. Aleah nodded, not realizing how much she disliked the idea of being alone until it was actually brought up. Cad nodded, moving to the chair by the door again. 

"I'll stay. Talk to Fjord and Yasha about taking turns too." Caduceus said, looking over at Caleb. Caleb nodded, smiled once more at her and then left the room. Aleah dozed fitfully for a few hours, occasionally waking from a dark nightmare she couldn't remember. The first time Caduceus was there, then the woman from before who said her name was Yasha. Caleb was there for the last two. He also finally asked what her name was. 

"Aleah, my name is Aleah. Nobody else has ever asked before." She had told him in a shaky voice following one of the nightmares. Caleb had nodded. 

"Well Aleah. I am Caleb Widogast." He said softly. She didn't reply as she finally settled back into sleep again. 

Caleb was reading in the chair while Aleah slept when a soft knock came at the door. Beau poked her head in a moment later. 

"Hey, you wanna leave Frumpkin with her so we can all talk? We need to make a plan for what's next now that we're done here." She asked after seeing that Aleah was asleep again. 

"Ja. Gather everyone up. I'll be there in a moment."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I live off of comments and kudos friends.  
> It's surprisingly good motivation to keep going.  
> Also, just so everyone knows, I wrote the ending the other day. Still have some chapters in the middle to hash out but there is a set ending now.


	3. What's Next?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Nein completed their initial mission, but now they need to figure out what to do with the strange girl they rescued.

Aleah was asleep in the next room over with Frumpkin curled at the foot of the bed to alert them if she woke in a panic again or tried to leave. Caleb was casting alarm over her door and then he would be in for them to discuss whatever they were going to do next. He slipped in and shut the door behind him settling into the chair near the door where Veth was already perched on the arm.  


"She's resting again. Hopefully she can sleep more than an hour before the nightmares wake her again." He said, glancing around the room. They so rarely all crammed into a tiny inn room like this anymore.  


"We need a plan. Some of the members of the cult got away and they weren't all just underlings following what the leaders told them." Fjord said.  


"But we can't just leave the girl behind either. We don't even know where she came from. Nobody seemed to know who she was in town." Beau said.  


"What little we got from her this afternoon leads me to believe she's been with the cult for a while. She probably isn't from here at all." Caduceus added.  


"Then what? The town wants nothing to do with the cult. They're not going to want to keep her here."  


"Bring her with us? She was part of them. Maybe she can help us find the ones that escaped?"  


"She's so young. To be thrust into what we do could be very jarring along with hunting down the people that basically tried to kill her." Fjord said.  


"She's not that much younger than I am when you think about it. I'm only 24." Beau said. "I was with the monks by the time I was her age. She doesn't have to fight with us Fjord. She can just point and we'll go. She can stay at the Xorhaus while we're gone. Once the cult is taken care of she can settle somewhere and make a real life for herself. I'm okay with this."  


“Is she going to be though? Before they tried to kill her, they were the people that raised her. Even if they are terrible people, there’s nothing saying she won’t defend them given the chance.” Fjord asked.  


“She’s scared but she knows that what happened wasn’t right. It’s going to take time for her to acclimate to life away from all of that. They tried to kill her, there’s a chance even if she goes back they won’t take her.” Caleb replied.  


“The least we can do is give her a chance.” Jester added.  


“You want to talk to her about going back to Xorhaus with us Caleb? She seems to like you and Cad.” Beau asked. Caleb nodded.  


“Alright. If we’re going home soon we need to get some stuff done here. Let’s get moving.” Fjord said standing up. Everyone headed out, off to complete whatever tasks so they would be ready to leave soon except Veth who remained perched on the chair next to Caleb.  


“You want me to go with while you talk to her?” She asked. Caleb shook his head.  


“I don’t want to overwhelm her. Also, she’s probably going to be mad at me when I go in there. She just woke up and realized I’m gone. I left Frumpkin with her.” Caleb said when Veth made a face of confusion at the last comment.  


“I’ll wait outside the door then. She’s going to have to meet all of us eventually.” She said hopping down off the chair. Caleb nodded and stood.  


***  


"You awake?" Caleb asked, knocking softly as he opened the door. Aleah was curled in the corner of her bed with Frumpkin hugged up against her.  


"Have been. You all left." She said softly. Her eyes wide and puffy with unshed tears.  


"Not really. Frumpkin was here to keep you company and let me know if you needed anything. We were just in the next room over. Not far. Had anything happened we would have been here." Aleah looked down at Frumpkin in surprise.  


"He's your familiar?"  


"He is."  


"That means you have the materials to cast the spell when he's gone right?" She asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement.  


“You have a familiar?” Caleb asked. She didn’t have a spellbook nor had they found any record of a wizard study in the temple aside from some of the high mages rooms but nothing that indicated someone like her.  


“I learned the spell a few years ago from one of the acolytes that was visiting. They said not to tell anyone as they weren't supposed to show me ‘useless magic’ but they did anyway. I don’t think I’m technically supposed to ever know it but I think if I tried to cast it I would get something.” She said.  


“When you are healed up and rested then, we’ll give it a try. I have plenty of components for it. Frumpkin is a very fragile cat sometimes.” Caleb said with a wry smile.  


“You all don’t need to keep looking after me. This inn must be expensive to house and feed you all for as long as you’ve been here. There’s more of you that I haven’t seen I think.” She said, shrinking back into herself as she spoke.  


“Yes, we actually talked about this, which is why I came to talk to you. We have a house. A safe place to rest and recharge while we figure out what the rest of the people from the temple ran off to do. You can come with us, rest until you feel better and then be on your way. It will likely be more comfortable than here and less noisy, mostly. Jester and Veth can get kind of loud when causing trouble. There’s a guest room that, honestly, I don’t think has ever been used. You wouldn’t be imposing on us.” Caleb said. Aleah just stared with wide eyes for a moment before nodding slightly and letting Frumpkin out of her arms. She pushed herself to the edge of the bed and attempted to stand for a moment before sitting back with a huff.  


“I’ve been sleeping all day. How am I too tired to even stand?” She groaned.  


“I’ll go find some food for you and then we’ll get around to meeting everyone else slowly so you aren’t too overwhelmed when we leave later. I’ll be back. You want more company or is Frumpkin enough?”  


“Frumpkin doesn’t ask for too much. He just wants to be petted and given attention. I like him.” She smiled. Caleb smiled back softly before heading out of the room to find some food for Aleah before they left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the short chapter. They get progressively longer as things start actually happening. Thanks for reading!  
> Also, just for reference going forward, Aleah has 3 levels in sorcerer because reasons, but the cult members are idiots and started teaching her magic like a wizard so she learned book magic once she was old enough to read. The dumbest multiclass but this is a fanfic and I do what I want.


	4. Meeting the Mighty Nein

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Staying at an inn can get expensive and, while money isn't an issue, somewhere else would be more comfortable for Aleah to recover.  
> First things first though, she has to meet the rest of the Nein.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! Happy Halloween dear readers! I'm very excited about where this fic is going so you all are getting an early chapter drop. Enjoy :)

“So how are we planning on doing this? I would assume she’s still fairly weak and she probably won’t like us carrying her but it could be a while before she could make the walk from the Bastion to the house.” Beau asked while they sat at the table in the tavern downstairs waiting for food. 

“I assume she’s going to try and walk on her own and we’ll just make sure Yasha or Jester is there to catch her when she finally exhausts herself. It probably won’t be very long. She tried to stand up before and was struggling with that. The shock of all this plus almost dying has really taken its toll on her and she’s not a fan.” Caleb replied. 

“I can go talk to her before we leave. Just to let her know when she’s tired that I will carry her.” Yasha added softly. 

“She needs to meet everyone at some point before we leave. It might be good for her to know everyone at least a bit. Then if she needs someone she knows names at the least. Fjord and Beau I’m not worried about, it’s Jester and Veth that might be a lot for her.” Both Jester and Veth piped up in protest to that comment. 

“Cayleb!” 

“I know when to tone it down, most of the time anyway.” 

“I know you two. But she was skittish around Yasha and Cad, You two are a whole different ballgame. We can work our way up to you.” Caleb said. 

Food arrived a few moments later and Caleb spent a moment trying to figure out how to carry both his and Aleah’s before Beau grabbed the glasses and another plate and headed for the stairs without any comment. He scrambled for the other two plates and then headed up the stairs behind her. 

“We all have to meet her at some point. Might as well soften the shock with the blessing of food. You go in first.” Beau said when he made it up to the room Aleah had been staying in. 

Caleb knocked on the door as best he could before pushing his way in. At the sight of the mugs in hand Aleah perked up. Beau trailed in behind Caleb and kicked the door shut behind her. 

“Take it slow. You haven’t eaten all day. Don’t overdo it.” Caleb said, passing her a plate and one of the mugs. Aleah nodded, setting the mug on the nightstand and scooting back on the bed as far from Beau and the door as possible. 

“Aleah, this is Beauregard. She’s one of the friends I’ve been traveling with.” Caleb said. Beau nodded towards Aleah as she sat on the floor near the other bed and dug into her food. 

“I have to meet everyone eventually I guess.” She said not taking her eyes off Beau. 

“Relax. I’m going to sit here and eat my food, which you should too, and then I’ll go back downstairs, hopefully to return all of our dishes because we’re done eating.” Beau said after realizing Aleah wasn’t eating yet. 

"She won't hurt you Aleah. Now eat. You need to get your strength up so you can come with us this evening.” Caleb said. 

Beau started eating and when she finished, pulled her journal out to look over her notes on this mission, noting down a few things to research next time they had a chance to stop and look through some stuff. True to her word she didn’t bother Aleah as they ate and when she finished what she could from her plate. Caleb gathered up the empty dishes when she was done and passed them to Beau without a word. 

“I’ll have Veth message you if we need anything before we’re ready to go. Good to meet you Aleah.” Beau said, first to Caleb then a nod to Aleah before she left. 

“She’s nice. Doesn’t use magic does she?” Aleah asked as the door shut behind her. 

“No.” Caleb laughed. “Beau doesn’t have magic of her own. She doesn’t mind a boost spell of one kind or another in a fight though.” 

Yasha stopped by a few minutes later to say hi and properly introduce herself to Aleah. 

“We didn’t say anything to one another when you woke up but know we are here to help. When you get tired let Jester or I know and you can lean on us.” She told her. Aleah had just nodded in understanding before Yasha left. 

Fjord stopped in to introduce himself but didn’t stay long before Caduceus came up to join Caleb and Aleah in the room. 

“Veth and Jester want to come say hi quick while you start the circle.” Cad said. Caleb nodded and gathered up his spellbook and papers from the floor where he had been sitting. 

“Cad will stay with you until we’re ready to go. Veth said she’d be tame but if her or Jester get to be too much for you Cad can make them leave. I’m going to set up the teleportation circle so we can go home.” Caleb said. “Are you all packed up Cad?” He asked. Caduceus nodded. “Well, I’ll see you two in a few minutes.” Caleb left and they sat in silence for a moment when there was a knock at the door yet again. A blue tiefling poked her head in the door a moment later and smiled. 

“Can we come in?” She asked. 

“Aleah?” Caduceus asked. She looked over to him as he nodded at her. “It’s up to you. You can tell them no if you don’t want to.” He said. 

“No. I need to not be afraid of other people so much. They can come in.” Aleah said, straightening her shoulders towards the door. The tiefling at the door grinned and came into the room, a halfling woman on her heels. 

“Hi, I’m Jester. Caleb was really worried about you yesterday, but he wouldn’t let us come visit even when you were sleeping, so we went shopping instead.” Jester said. The halfling had to be the Veth Caleb had mentioned earlier then. She followed Jester into the room as they sat the bag they had down on the bed opposite Aleah. 

“Your outfit is a little rough from getting all cut up and stuff so we thought you could use something new.” Jester said and she pulled out a short dress and some leggings from the bag. The dress was a red/orange color with gold embroidery along the seams and the leggings were just very soft nice brown leggings. The boots they’d grabbed were just slightly darker but also very nice and soft. 

“Ahh, thank you. You didn’t need to do this. These must have been expensive.” Aleah said looking at the amount of detail on the dress itself. 

“Don’t worry about it. We stole some of Fjord’s gold when he wasn’t looking. Besides, we’ll get more when we finish our next job.” Veth said with a grin. Aleah wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of them stealing from each other for her but before she could protest Veth pulled one more thing out of the bag. 

“Caleb said you do magic. Magic always requires components and you didn’t have a bag for them so I got one for you.” She said holding up a small bag that would go on her belt. 

“Alright you two. Out so she can get dressed before we leave. Go see if the others need any help getting their bags downstairs.” Cad said as Aleah stared at the bag Veth had just set with the rest of her clothes. 

“Do you want help or are you okay by yourself for a moment? I’ll wait outside for you. Also, the shirt is one of Yasha’s spares so hang onto it when you change, she’ll want it back.” 

“I think I’ll be okay. Stay close though.” Aleah said. Caduceus nodded, handing her the clothes and stepping out into the hallway. She heard Jester outside for a moment before the door closed but not what she said. Jester and Veth seemed nice but they were a lot brighter and louder than Aleah was expecting them to be. She slipped off the large, grey shirt she’d been sleeping in all day, grimacing at how dirty she’d gotten the borrowed clothes. Her own clothes were, as Jester had said, a little rough. They weren’t much to begin with but being stabbed and apparently almost dying didn’t help them much. They weren’t anything special anyway. That being said, she folded the tattered shirt and skirt neatly and tucked them into the bag that had been left for her to use. 

The dress fit perfectly of course. Her impression of Jester seemed as though she bought a lot of clothes for others. The sleeves came down just above her elbows with a small flared cuff that was also embroidered. The amount of gold this must have cost was terrifying to think about. She looked at the belt and the component pouch before tucking them both in her bag and sitting back down, already tired. 

“Caduceus. I’m decent again.” She called. He poked his head back in with a smile. 

“Perfect, Ready then?” Aleah nodded, ready to get out of the room finally. 

“Caleb is just about ready. We can go down to meet him and the others.” She nodded again and stood, shouldering her bag with her old clothes and a couple other things in it and shakely making her way to the door. Caleb was downstairs getting a circle ready to take them to the house they all shared, from there, she could figure out what she was actually supposed to do now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jester and Veth were really on their best behavior for this chapter.   
> I'm finding the more I write this the more I notice which characters I'm better at writing and which ones take more time to get right. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	5. Xorhaus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Nein welcome Aleah into their home, the Xorhaus. She needs time to recover and the space to do so. With a month of downtime she starts to find her place among the Nein.  
> (I'm bad at chapter descriptions...)

“Six seconds everyone. Ready?” Caleb asked, holding the chalk above the last bit of the circle. The others all nodded, readying themselves for the jump. 

“Just step in when it lights up. It’ll feel weird for a moment and then we’ll all be somewhere else.” Caduceus said guiding Aleah as close to the edge of the circle as possible. Caleb muttered something more and finished the last couple lines as the circle lit up. The others all stepped in as Cad made sure Aleah made it through with them all. 

The room pitched underneath her and one moment they were in the back room of the inn, then they were in a stone chamber, torches on the walls and guards posted at the door. She was still trying to orient herself in the room when Fjord and Beau both untucked some sort of medallion from their jackets to show the guards. They stood down at that and let them pass through the doors and into what Aleah could only assume was a castle. The Nein navigated it with little issue and before long they were in the streets of a city, at night it appeared. 

“Guys, should I let Essek know we’re back?” Jester asked as they stepped out of the fence around the palace itself. 

“I’m sure he’ll hear about our arrival before too long. Let’s get home. Someone want to fish some money out for Vedalla? We haven’t been back in a while to pay her for keeping the house.” Fjord asked. 

“Got it!” Jester said with a smile as they continued walking. Aleah stumbled a couple times the farther they got to the palace. After the second time Yasha appeared next to her, offering her arm to lean on. 

“There is no shame in being worn out, Miss Aleah. You’ve been through a lot these last couple days.” Caduceus said when she hesitated to take it at first. Before long a house loomed up in the distance with a tree growing from the roof. 

"Welcome to the Xorhaus, Miss Aleah." Caduceus said as they entered the small garden outside. The front door flew open when they were a few steps away, a young drow girl appearing in the doorway. 

“Are you actually back? It’s been months.” She shouted across the lawn. 

“We are. With your gold and some extra for being gone so long.” Jester said, handing over a small pouch of gold to the girl. Her face pressed into a thin line for a moment as she took the bag before a soft smile tilted the corners just a bit. 

“Fine. I’ll accept this. A message as to how long you all would be gone would be nice next time.” She said as she tucked the money into her bag. “I was just starting for the day but I’ll leave and let you all settle in again.” She said and pushed past the group heading out into the city again. 

“Honestly kind of forgot we hired her till Caleb said something.” Veth said watching as she went. 

“You’re the one who decided to hire her. How could you forget?” Fjord asked. Veth didn’t reply to that as they headed inside. 

“The guest room will need to be made up quick and then Aleah can have that one.” Caleb said as they stepped in. 

“Done.” Jester said bouncing up the stairs before anyone else could say anything. 

“There should be extra blankets in the hall closet Jes.” Fjord called after her. 

“Is she always so bubbly?” Aleah mumbled. Caleb and Beau laughed. 

“Always. You get used to it eventually.” Beau said. 

“Isn’t it like, almost dawn here? What was Vedalla doing here so early?” Cad asked. 

“Maybe she had stuff to do today and just wanted to get it done. Or she didn’t actually do anything and just decided to leave since we were back.” Fjord shrugged as he kicked his boots off by the door. 

“Okay, your room is ready Aleah. Come on up!” She heard Jester shout from upstairs. 

“Bed. Rest, we’ll get you up again in a few hours, and, if you're feeling up to it, we can show you some of the city.” Caleb said. She nodded letting Yasha lead her up the stairs to the room just to the left of the stairs across from Jester and Beau’s shared bedroom. 

“We aren’t going far. Just shout if you need something.” Yasha told her as she settled into bed, already exhausted from the short journey here. 

The soft murmur of voices from down below woke her a few hours later. There was a mug of tea and a plate of crackers with a note telling her to eat and join them if she felt like it sitting on the bedside table. It may have only been a few hours since she last ate but she was already hungry again. Surprisingly the tea was still hot and she was able to eat without much issue. 

Using the wall for support she was able to make her way slowly down the stairs and around to the living room where a few of the others were stretched out on the furniture. 

“Hey, we were just about to send someone up to get you. How are you feeling?” Caleb asked, appearing in the door from the dining room. 

“Better, thank you. What now though?” She asked. 

“Right now Caduceus is making a late breakfast. Then some of us were going shopping today.” Beau said. 

“You’re welcome to join them or you can bum around the house like the rest of us. Cad can show you the garden or you can hole up in the library with Caleb.” Fjord said. 

“Ah, I was planning on heading to Essek’s today to go over some things. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to work on anything.” Caleb said. Beau made a face but didn't actually say anything. 

"I'm not sure if I'm up for a full day of shopping yet. I can stay here." Aleah said. 

"That's fine. Fjord doesn't like shopping either. If I see something I think you'd like I'll get it for you." Jester said with a grin. 

“Food’s up everyone.” Caduceus called from the kitchen. 

*** 

Time passed at the Xorhaus fairly quietly while Aleah took time to heal. She took to studying magic occasionally with Caleb when he was home and spending her other time in the garden reading or helping Caduceus. 

Jester got her a notebook out shopping that first day, for spells if she wanted to learn some from Caleb bus she could use it for whatever she wanted. It was on the small desk in her room, along with the component bag she’d been given the first day. 

Occasionally a couple of the members of the Nein would take off for a day or two, errands for one person or another and then return with some treasure or magic stuff to sell. 

She met Essek ten days in. He stopped by the house while she was helping Caduceus in the kitchen and she was the first to the door, flour still down her apron and hair back in a messy bun. 

“Hi.” She said as she swung the door open. The drow just stared for a moment before Caleb came up behind her tugging it open the rest of the way. 

“Ah Essek, you’re earlier than I was expecting. Come on in.” Caleb said, stepping aside to let the man in. He nodded and _floated?_ Across the doorway into the entryway as Caleb closed the door. 

“Mister Essek, it’s been a while. Are you staying for dinner tonight, I can make some extra?” Caduceus asked, poking his head out of the kitchen to see who was keeping Aleah. 

“I’m not sure, Veth or Beau would really want me to stay. We will see how long this spell takes.” Essek said, glancing at Caleb. 

“Wait, are you doing more spells today?” Aleah asked, glancing between the new man, Essek, and Caleb. 

“Sorry Aleah, I forgot you two hadn’t met. Essek, this is Aleah, Aleah, Essek. She’s staying with us for a bit.” 

“It is nice to meet you Miss Aleah. Caleb is actually a part time student of mine. We were going to go over a new spell for him today.” Essek said. 

“Fortune’s favor is one I learned from him. In a way he’s helping you now too.” Caleb said. Aleah’s eyes went wide in understanding. 

On occasions when he was researching something for the small cult that had raised Aleah she’d watch him press the pearl to his forehead and look into something new or different. They’d made some progress in learning about them, but details were scarce. The Ascension of the Angel as they had found it to be called, didn’t seem to be very easy to pin down. 

“Taking on a student of your own now?” Essek asked looking over Aleah in surprise. 

“More like helping me get a spellbook back in order. We don’t really know what happened to my old one. They never found it and I don’t know who had it.” Aleah said looking away. From what she had gathered over the last week or so with Caleb, most wizards were allowed to keep their spellbook on them all the time and it was a treasured object. The fact that she wasn’t allowed to keep hers at all was very out of the ordinary. Now it was a matter of figuring out what spells she knew just innately and what she remembered casting from books in the past. They’d made progress but it was slow. 

“We don’t have much to get through. You two should have some time to study today. We should get started.” Essek said, turning to Caleb who nodded. 

“Miss Aleah, I could use your help for a moment.” Caduceus called from in the kitchen. 

“Happy studying you two.” She said with a small wave before ducking into the kitchen to help Cad again. 

*** 

Caleb knocked softly on her bedroom door that evening where Aleah was curled in her chair reading. 

“You’ve been here over a week and I promised you spell components when you had recovered.” He said untucking a small box from under his arm. Frumpkin was perched on his shoulders watching intently as he set the box down and unhooked his spellbook. Aleah scrambled from the chair, her book discarded on the side table without a second thought. 

“For my familiar? Are you sure?” 

“You’ve cast stronger spells in our practice sessions. You should be able to handle this. You’ll have to copy it down into your own book, we have a lot to do for this. Let's get started.” Caleb said with a soft smile. Aleah grabbed her spellbook off the desk and settled next to Caleb as he began walking her through the spell. 

A while later Aleah laid out the pieces of the spell and for the first time, was actually allowed to cast for her own familiar. Caleb stood off to the side, watching as she worked, a small smile on his face. She was learning quickly. 

Ten minutes of casting time later and Aleah finished the spell with a flourish. The incense went out and in its place was a small speckled songbird. Rich dark black feathers with little spots of white but in the center of his chest was a small little ghost shaped puff of feathers. 

“It worked!” Aleah squealed with joy, opening her hand to let the little bird climb up onto her shoulder. 

“It did. A little songbird like that isn’t a normal familiar. He must be very special.” Caleb said watching as the bird settled in a perch on Aleah’s shoulder. 

“I think he can be a hawk when we’re traveling but he likes being a bit smaller when he can be. While I’m in the city it should be fine right?” She asked. 

“Of course. We’ll just need to make sure we have the incense around to change his form when you need to. Does he have a name?” 

“Boo.” Aleah said with a smile. The little bird chirped in agreement.

*** 

A month after they first arrived in Rhosona Aleah could tell the Nein were getting antsy to do something more than just the small errand missions they’d been doing. When they got a request for an audience with the Bright Queen the atmosphere in the house shifted almost immediately. There was an odd mix of excitement and nervousness about all of them. Arrangements were made to pick Veth back up from visiting her family and gather anything else they could possibly need before the meeting later that day. 

“You good for a few hours?” Jester asked as they gathered up to head out. 

“Of course. You guys aren’t far. I took Sending as one of my spells today if I need to contact you all. I’ll be fine. Go to your meeting.” She replied with a smile. 

“We’ll be back in a few hours then.” Caleb nodded to her before they headed out the door to whatever this meeting held for them. 

* 

Aleah glanced over at the trapdoor into the garden as she heard it open to see Beau climb her way up and glance around before finding her. Boo chirped a hello from their perch up in the tree somewhere nearby. 

“How’d your guys’ meeting go?” Aleah asked closing her book and sitting up a bit more in her seat. 

“Good. That’s actually what I’m here to talk to you about. We’ve been asked to take on a short mission for the Bright Queen. She hasn’t asked much of us lately so we really have to take the job. The only problem is figuring out what to do with you.” Beau said taking the cushion across from Aleah. 

“We knew this was temporary when I came back with you guys. I can function at least a bit on my own now. I’ll figure something out from here I guess” Aleah said, mentally figuring out what from her room she wanted to take with her. 

“No, we’re not asking you to leave. Gods, why did Fjord make me be the one to talk to you? I’m terrible at it. 

“We were just wondering if you would be okay with staying here for a few days on your own? We shouldn’t be gone very long. Just a few days. Essek said if you needed anything you can just stop by his towers or the Bastion if it’s during the day. I don’t trust him but I don’t think he’d hurt you. Jester would check in with you if you wanted us to.” 

“I can stay?” 

“Yeah. We all care about you. You’ve made a lot of progress this last month. Especially for someone raised by cultists who thought she was something special to them. Caduceus doesn’t think you’re quite ready to be on the road with us yet but you should be fine for a few days on your own here.” Beau said. It took Aleah a moment to process this. 

“This is your guys’ home though. I couldn’t possi-” 

“It’s your home too. You live here. You’re allowed to exist in this space as much as you damn well please whether we are here or not.” Beau cut her off. “We’ll be gone, two, maybe three days and then we’ll be back to figure out what to do with the crazy people that raised you the way they did.” 

“When are you all leaving?” 

“Tomorrow. Afternoon probably. Caleb needs to get some spell stuff before we leave.” 

“Okay.” Aleah nodded, “You all be safe out there.” 

“You too. Look after yourself while we’re away.” Beau replied with a smile before retreating to the trapdoor and disappearing back into the house. 

* 

The Nein left the next afternoon with promises to message if they were going to be gone longer than they expected. For the first time in over a month, Aleah was without the Nein, and for the first time in her entire life, she was completely alone. 

What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am 100% aware that a tiny songbird like Boo is not a normal familiar but if Shakaste can have The Duchess then Aleah can have a songbird. Nothing else seemed to fit quite right.  
> We getting into the story now. I'm so happy to get this chapter out there and actually start delving into the meat of this story. So much more to come!  
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Rhosona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aleah is alone for the first time in her life. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter 6, aka: I'm mean to my characters because I can be. I had to split this chapter into two parts because it got away from me a bit. That being said it's still a fairly decent length chapter. Enjoy!

The bell for the gate chimed as it opened for someone it recognized. Essek sighed standing to go meet whoever was at the door at this late of an hour. The Nein were still away until tomorrow at least on their mission for the queen so there were very few people who the gate would admit automatically. 

He was surprised, to say the least, when he swung open the door to find Aleah leaning against the post for the small porch. 

"Hey. I was hoping you were home." She said softly. 

"Miss Aleah? It is late, I would have assumed you were already resting for-" Essek paused mid sentence as Aleah seemed to flinch, curling in on herself slightly. "Miss Aleah?" He asked, head cocked slightly in concern. 

"Do me a solid and don't tell Caleb about this." She sighed and unwrapped her arms from around her stomach. The long, wide gash across her front opened a bit more. She hissed in pain, trying not to think too hard about how much blood she had likely lost at this point. 

"Also, if you know a healer by chance that could give me a hand, I think the blade was poisoned." She said weakly. Her legs decided at that moment they weren't going to work anymore and she crashed hard to her knees before Essek managed to catch her. 

"By the Light Aleah. What happened?" Essek asked, guiding her to the ground. The entire front of her shirt and her pants were soaked with blood. Aleah opened her mouth to respond, fighting the dark wave of unconsciousness that threatened to take her, but all that came out was a pained whine. She lay there watching as Essek traced the pattern for Sending in the air above her. Hopefully reaching out to a healer. She was more focused on staying awake than she was actually listening. The fog from the poison wasn't helping much and the fear of not waking up was very real at this point. 

"Help is coming Aleah. Just breathe, and stay awake." Essek said. Her eyes had glazed over slightly as she started to slip into shock. He just hoped that she could hold on long enough for the healers to arrive. 

*** 

Essek was working in his study with the door open slightly to keep an eye on Aleah's door. The healers had finally left a couple hours ago after Essek had a chance to Trance for a bit. She'd been in bad shape before she'd even gotten to his towers much less after the twenty two minutes it took the healers to show up afterwards. They'd done their best with her but some things healed better with time rather than magic. He just hoped she was awake at least before the Nein got home and realized she wasn't there. 

He sighed, pushing away his notes that he'd reworked twice now. His thoughts kept going back to Aleah and how he was going to keep this from the Nein at all. If they were gone for another day or two he had something to work with but they could be back this afternoon and Aleah certainly wasn't going to be at full health by then. He'd already lied to the Nein about so much but to not tell them about something like this; Beau would likely never speak to him again. 

He wasn't getting anything done anyway. Might as well make some tea and check on Aleah. Maybe then he could focus. He had finished setting up the tray and was on his way back up the stairs when a small black and white bird appeared in the hall above him. 

"Aleah has a familiar, are you her familiar?" He asked. The bird chirped happily. 

"Aleah if you're awake I'm coming up. I have tea if you want some." He said. The bird chirped again and landed on his shoulder. He took that as an agreement to stay put and continued up the stairs. Aleah was lying in her bed upstairs, shifted ever so slightly onto her side so she could see the door a bit better. She smiled slightly seeing Essek in the doorway with tea. 

"I should start with a thank you I suppose." She said shifting to start to sit up. She winced slightly but kept moving. 

"Careful. You don’t want to tear your stitches. They couldn't heal it all last night and neutralize the poison at the same time." Essek said setting the tray on the side table and helping her up the rest of the way. 

"Hells, Essek. It fucking hurts to move it. I think I'll know if I make it worse." She hissed. 

"I'm glad to see you awake. The healers weren't sure you would wake up at all today. I've been trying to figure out what to tell the Nein if they get back before you're recovered." 

"Don't tell them I got stabbed is a good start. With luck they won't be back for another day or two and you just won't have to tell them I was here at all." 

"The could be back any minute tho-" Essek started and, speak of the devil, Jester's voice popped into his head. 

"Hi Essek. We're back in Rhosona if you would like to come over for dinner tonight? Also, have you heard from Aleah? She's not home-" the spell cut her off before she could finish. Essek raised an eyebrow at Aleah before responding. 

"I am very busy with work today Jester but we will see about dinner. Miss Aleah I believe is in the study downstairs researching." He said. No new response came after a moment and he nodded. 

"A small out but, as I would like to join them for dinner, you will have to tell someone what happened as you cannot stay here while I am there. They would find it strange no doubt." Essek said to Aleah. She nodded pressing her hand lightly against the bandages she was wrapped in. 

"Message Caduceus. Tell him I want to speak with Caleb and also him but I don't want the others to know yet. He'll figure out a way to get here without raising suspicion. I suppose if I have to tell someone I'll start with them." 

"Very well." Essek said tracing Sending in the air once more. 

"Hello Caduceus, this is Essek. Aleah wants to speak to you and Caleb without the rest of the Nein knowing. Please come at your convenience." He said. Aleah marveled at the idea of anyone being so composed while Sending. Jester almost always ran out of words. 

"I will do my best. May be a moment before we can get out alone." Caduceus replied. Essek didn't bother responding with another spell. 

"They'll be here in a bit. Rest, I'll bring a few books up for you to peruse while you're here. Call for an attendant if you need help. I need to finish up a couple things first and then I will be back to sit with you if you like." Essek said. 

"Good. I'll be fine for a bit. Books would be nice though." Aleah said, carefully leaning back against the headboard. Essek nodded and put the tea tray back together again. 

"I'll wait till they get here for an explanation as to what happened but be prepared to talk when they get here. They care about you deeply. To have this happen the first time they leave you alone is going to hurt them too. I'll be back in a moment." Essek said then glided out of the room. 

*** 

Aleah was curled in bed with a small stack of books on the table next to her when Essek glided into the doorway again a few hours later. 

"They're here." He said as she heard the front door open downstairs. 

"Essek, Aleah?" Caleb called from down below. Essek vanished from the doorway and she heard him greet them as he headed down the stairs. From this far away 

she couldn't make out what they were saying but could tell they were speaking. Footsteps sounded on the stairs as Caleb and Caduceus appeared in the doorway concern coloring their features. Essek was right behind them as Aleah sat up a bit more swinging her legs off the side of the bed to move to the chair nearby. 

She winced as the motion tugged at the wound a bit, her hand flying down to hover over the bandages again. 

"Hells. Essek, a little help maybe." She hissed. Essek nodded, shifting past the other two and helping her to her feet. He guided her to the armchair by the window and once she was seated again brought one of the blankets from the bed for her to drape over her legs again. 

"Aleah, what...?" Caleb asked watching as she gingerly shifted to settle into the chair more comfortably. 

"I had a really bad night last night." She said, patting the bandages lightly. She winced at the pain from doing so. Caduceus moved towards her chair kneeling down next to her. 

"I don't know how much more healing will help. They did a lot last night from what I've been told. Anything to numb it would be nice though." She said. Caleb looked over at Essek who was standing a bit back from the rest of them. 

"What happened?" He asked Essek. 

"She stumbled up to my door last night, bleeding. Almost died lying there on the stoop while we waited on the healers. It took two of them over an hour to get her somewhat stable and it was still touch and go most of the night. Thank whatever God you pray to that she's awake right now. It took a lot of magic." Essek said, "I didn't bother her too much when she woke up. Saving an explanation for later, and now you all are here so..." he added giving a pointed look at Aleah. She sighed leaning back a bit in the chair. 

"I wanted to explore the city a bit and figured the shopping district would be safe in the evening for a bit of window shopping and as I was leaving I got snagged into an alleyway and all but jumped for the two gold I had in my pocket and the couple books I'd found in a sale bin that were in my bag. 

"They decided that to keep me from going after them they'd ground me there. Immovable Object is a bitch of a spell when it's a dagger in your stomach while you're pinned against a wall." She said. Caleb and Essek recoiled slightly at the implications of that. 

"They didn't gut you. They made you do it yourself to get free..." Caleb muttered, anger sharpening his voice ever so slightly. 

"Either that or bleed out there in the alley while I waited till it ended. I don’t know how he cast it. Could have been a while before the damn thing was movable again. That, and I could feel the poison leeching in already. While I can somewhat handle being cut, poison seems to be a very effective way of keeping me down. I wanted to be somewhere safe at the very least before I passed out and Essek's place was the closest. I apologize if I scared you last night. I wasn't sure where else to go." Aleah said. Essek shook his head. 

"I am impressed you made it all the way here from the shopping district. It's not exactly a short walk." Caleb said. Aleah huffed slightly. 

"Adrenaline and instinct to stay alive carry you pretty far in dire situations. I don't remember most of it except for the all consuming panic and the actual fear of dying." 

"What do you want to do now then? The others will need to know too." Caduceus asked. Aleah sighed, closing her eyes. She was already exhausted and the idea of walking back to the Xorhaus seemed all but impossible. 

"One of us can go back ahead and talk to them while the other walks with Aleah. She's not going to be able to walk the whole way without a few breaks." Caleb suggested. 

"I can try healing you some more but I don't want to mess up anything that has already been set. Are you going to be able to get home?" Cad asked, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder. 

"It's not going to be easy but I can manage. Do you need to get back to start something for dinner? Gods only knows what we will be eating if Jester decides to cook instead." 

"I started a stew when we got back. Had most of it together when I got the message from Essek. It won't be done for a bit yet but it doesn't need much while it's going. Fjord knows to stir it every once in a while." Caduceus reassured them. 

“At least something is going as planned for someone.” Aleah sighed. 

“Did you actually have a plan for this or were you just going to hide while you healed?” Caleb asked. 

“I was hoping I had another day or so. With some time I would have been healed up enough and you guys would never have to know.” She said. She couldn’t quite catch the series of emotions that played across their faces as they realized what she was saying. 

“Had we come back tomorrow after you’d had time with the healers again, you wouldn’t have told us at all?” Caleb breathed. 

“I wouldn’t want to worry you guys. You’ve done so much for me already. That I can’t even look after myself for a couple days…” She trailed off, looking away from them. 

Caleb knelt down in front of her, gently guiding her to look at him before he spoke. 

“We haven’t talked much about Immovable Object outside of it’s concept. The spell uses gold dust to cast, about 25 gold worth. Whoever attacked you was doing it for some other reason outside of what little money and cheap books you had on you. 

“You are important to us. You can tell us things, we will never be mad about that. The others are going to be upset by this, not because you were hurt but because we weren’t here to protect you. It’s only been a month, we were rash to leave you behind without any sort of help. You’re still learning and we promised to be around while you figure everything out.” 

“I can’t force you all to stay here just to look after me. Besides, I should be learning to look after myself.” 

“First thing is that you need to start carrying your magic supplies outside of practice time.” Caduceus said. Aleah flinched. 

“I was hoping you guys hadn’t noticed.” She hissed. 

“We’ll work on it.” Caleb said reassuringly before straightening up. “I’ll talk to the others. You guys can come behind me in a bit. That way everyone has an idea of what’s going on. Don’t push yourself. Essek and Caduceus will help you.” Caleb said directing the last bit at Aleah. She nodded, looking up again finally. 

“See you in a few then.” Essek nodded as Caleb headed out to inform the rest of the Nein before dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I'm sorry! Aleah is my child and I love her but bad things happen. She'll be okay one day.  
> Always appreciate the comments and kudos. Till next time!


	7. Setback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aleah and the rest of the Nein come to terms with what happened while the Nein were away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot to update today!  
> This is late but it's still Tuesday where I am (barely)  
> Enjoy!

Caleb stepped into the entryway of the Xorhaus and sighed. He could hear Jester talking rapidly to someone upstairs and Veth was clearly tinkering in her lab. 

Fjord was in the living room leafing through a book that had been left on the table but looked up at the sound of Caleb's footsteps. 

"You're back early. We all figured you'd just come back with Essek and Aleah. Cad isn't back yet so we aren't sure what else needs to be done for dinner prep." He said setting the book down. 

"He should be back soon. Aleah wanted me to talk to you all before she gets back. She's going to walk over with Essek in a bit. I think they were going to pick out some wine to bring over. Can you help me gather the others?" He asked. Beau appeared in the doorway from the showers at that moment, a towel around her shoulders and her hair loose. 

"Family meeting with those in the house. No problem." She said with a grin. She headed for the stairs. Already pulling her hair back up again. She was only halfway up when Caleb heard her start shouting towards the Happy room where Jester and Yasha must have been. Fjord shrugged as Caleb ducked into the study and lab he shared with Veth. 

"When you get a break we all need to talk before dinner." He said. Veth nodded, setting aside whatever she was working on at that moment. 

"Now?" 

"Yes. We're gathering in the living room." Caleb nodded. 

By the time he got back the rest of the girls had come down from upstairs. 

"Whats up Caleb? We figured Caduceus would beat you back by a long shot." Jester asked. 

"Aleah sent me back early. She wanted me to talk to you all." Caleb said. He looked down, not feeling brave enough to look at anyone while he said this. He took a ragged breath. 

"Aleah was hurt last night. While out exploring the city. She made it to Essek's before she passed out from her injuries." He said. He heard Beau recoil and Jester clap a hand over her mouth in shock. Fjord and Veth both swore. Yasha, while she didn't make a sound, Caleb knew she had stiffened at the thought of the girl being hurt in any way. 

"Essek said she was researching. Was he lying to us again?" Jester asked, her voice small. Caleb shook his head. 

"The first thing she asked when Essek answered the door was not to tell us. She didn't want us to worry. She was reading through some stuff when we got there. 

Caddy is still with her now. She was hoping that we would be gone a few days and this would be behind her before we got back. Essek was helping her. He knew she was going to have to tell us at some point." Caleb said. Yasha was the one that spoke next, her voice carefully toeing the line between concern and anger. 

"What happened? Does she know?" She asked. Caleb shook his head, knowing they weren't going to like what they were going to hear. 

"She was beat up in the alleyway for what little gold she had on her and then they decided to ground her in the alley the best way they could think of. Against the wall with a dagger in her stomach, Immovable Object on it to keep her in place." He said. Beau swore. She had been up pacing behind Fjord's chair since Caleb had started explaining. Before anyone could speak again they heard the front door open. 

"Caleb?" Caduceus called. 

"In the living room!" He replied. Caduceus appeared in the doorway a moment later. He looked to Caleb in concern. 

"They know. She can come in. Maybe lay down for a bit before dinner." Caleb said. Caduceus nodded, glancing back over his shoulder to wave Essek and Aleah in off the porch. She was leaning hard on Essek's arm now, her face pale. 

"Are you going to make it up the stairs or do you just want to use my room until dinner?" Caleb asked. Her free arm was wrapped tightly around her stomach in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain. 

"I just want to sit down." She said her legs beginning to tremble a bit, just this short walk had absolutely exhausted her. Yasha was in front of her a moment later, catching her as she started to pitch forward. 

"None of that now. You want to lay down or stay here while dinner is cooking?" She asked. 

"Here. I'm sure you all have questions." She said. Yasha nodded, all but carrying her to the chair she'd just abandoned. The others stared at the mass of bandages wrapped firmly around her stomach as well as the few scrapes and bruises still coloring her arms. 

"Any clue as to who did this?" Beau asked. Aleah shook her head. 

"It was night so the street lights were dimmed for evening and they nabbed me at the corner by the one butcher shop and the seasonal vendors place. If you want to know the next three vendors on the rotation I can tell you. I read the sign six times while trying to figure out what to do about the knife in my gut." She hissed in pain slightly as she settled into the chair. Jester was already there with a blanket before Caleb or Essek had a chance to grab one for her. 

"Jes, you know where that's at?" Veth asked. She nodded, turning towards her with a determined look on her face. 

"Dinner will be ready in about an hour you two. Don't be gone too long." Caduceus said as he headed for the kitchen. Veth had at some point slipped out and grabbed her crossbow and Jester's bag from the war room. 

"We're going to investigate. We're the best detectives after all." Jester said, taking her bag from Veth. 

"Company?" Beau asked. 

"If you want to. Someone should stay with Aleah though." Jester replied. Yasha nodded settling into the chair next to Aleah's. 

"All of you should be careful. We don't know what they were actually after. Immovable Object is not a cheap spell. Something tells me they were after a little something more than the gold in her pocket." Essek warned. Beau waved behind her in acknowledgement as they headed out the door. 

"They probably won't find anything now. Someone should have started looking last night." Caleb said. 

"You don't think it's more members of the Adoration do you? They would know by now that I was no longer with my sect. It would be seen as an achievement to bring down the false chosen." Aleah asked. Caleb and Yasha froze. 

"It's only been a few weeks. You think the news has reached this far already?" Caleb asked. 

"It's possible. The wizard I trained with on occasions was fairly powerful. It wouldn't take much for some of the members to cast sending and pass on that I was gone and the sect you guys dismantled was scattered. Most would have an idea of who I am at this point, I've met a lot of people over the years." 

"Damn. We were hoping for a bit more lead time." 

"They're not going to give us much choice if they're already coming after her." Yasha said. 

"We can start whenever. Aleah will need time to heal." Caduceus said coming out of the kitchen with a tray of tea mugs for everyone. He set it on the table in the center of the room letting the others grab their own mugs. Aleah had barely shifted to reach for hers when Yasha pressed one into her hands with a stern look. 

“One of you should probably fill Essek in on the Ascension. He looks confused which means nobody has told him yet.” Aleah said nodding towards the wizards still standing partially in the doorway of the living room. 

“It wasn’t really our place to tell per se. I didn’t want to tell him if you didn’t want him to know. It is kind of personal you know.” Caleb said. 

“Your trama is not something we just get to share around Aleah. That’s up to you.” Caduceus said leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen where he could monitor the stew still cooking. 

“Everything I ever did, good or bad, was shared with everyone before I even realized it was news or noteworthy. I wasn’t allowed to have secrets. I just assumed someone would have said something by now. We’ve been here over a month.” Aleah said, staring at her tea to avoid eye contact with anyone. Yasha knelt down in front of her so she could force Aleah to look at her. 

“Do you want Essek to know?” She asked softly. Aleah nodded. Yasa looked up pointedly at Caleb who nodded back at her. 

“Yasha is in charge of you until I get back.” Caleb said looking at Aleah as she glanced slightly his way. “Come on Essek, there’s a lot to cover.” He led Essek out of the room leaving the others in silence. 

“You doing okay Aleah?” Caduceus asked after a moment as she started to shrink in on herself some more. 

“I’m fine.” She said. 

“I don’t believe you.” Fjord said, speaking up finally. Aleah looked up at him sharply. 

“I am. Fine. What else do you want me to say?” 

“You just got stabbed, you almost bled out because of it. Forgive us if we don’t think you’re just fine right now.” He said. 

“I’m alive. I don’t know much else I could do right now. It’s going to take time to heal and I just have to deal with that.” Aleah said leaning back in her chair with a sigh. 

“I believe he is referring to the two near death experiences only about a month apart. You haven’t been out with us all that long.” Caduceus said. 

“The first time I didn’t even know what was happening at first and this time I had enough wherewithal to get to help. I’m not good at taking a hit. I’ve known that for years. Everything is overwhelming right now.” 

“We’re all here if you ever want to talk. It’s not good to hold it all in all the time.” Caduceus gathered the now empty tea mugs from everyone. 

“I know.” Aleah said. 

Caleb and Essek returned a while later. Essek had some questions but also said he would look into some connections he had about possible Ascension sects here in the Dynasty. 

The chaos crew, as Aleah had learned they called themselves, stumbled in after an hour or so. Not much to show for their escapade except for the dagger that was still in the alleyway when they went there. 

“We have work to do but for now, we should eat. Then figure out what the next step is.” Caleb said after they went over how little they had found. 

Essek left after dinner with a promise to stop by tomorrow with any new information if he found any. 

“What now?” Aleah asked as they settled back in the living room. 

“For now, you rest. We will sit down tomorrow and lay out what we know and what we can do from here. If this is the Ascension then it will take some planning to actually go after them in earnest.” Caleb said. 

“There’s probably a few smaller temples we could track down to get information from. More Empire side than here but I’m sure we can find some stuff here too.” Aleah said with a nod. 

“Alright then. You need to rest, Aleah. We have time to figure this out. I’ll see you in the morning.” Beau said before heading towards the training room. Aleah watched her go before struggling to her feet again. Her room wasn’t that far, she could do this. She heard Caduceus say something behind her as she used the wall to keep herself steady. 

“I find it hard to believe you would make it up those stairs in one piece.” Yasha said appearing beside her a moment later. Without hesitation she scooped Aleah up into her arms and headed for the stairs. 

“Yasha, really, you don’t need to-” 

“Too late.” She said. 

“Oooo, Yasha! Does Beau have some competition?” Jester called behind them. Yasha just shook her head as she continued walking, a small smile on her face. The others were slowly disbursing to do their own things before bed that night. 

“Rest. No rush on anything tomorrow either. We have time now.” Yasha said, setting her down outside her door. 

“Thanks.” She murmured and headed into her room, curling up in bed and drifting off to sleep. 

*** 

Caduceus woke late into the night to the sound of someone moving out in the garden. It was late. Caleb could have told him exactly how late it was but he was asleep downstairs by this time hopefully. 

He sighed, throwing back his blankets and padding out into the garden to find Aleah curled in a blanket on one of the mats under the tree. She was staring up at the drifting lights through the higher branches. 

“Miss Aleah?” He called softly. She shot up suddenly, flames coming to her hands as she looked for the source of the sound. It took her a second to focus on Caduceus and then process she was safe. 

“Ah, Caduceus, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” She said slumping back into her blanket as the flames snuffed out. “You can go back to sleep now.” Caduceus studied her in the half light of the dimmed globed in the tree. 

“Miss Aleah, You’re shaking. Are you alright?” He asked. 

“Please go back to sleep Cad. It’s nothing really.” She said tugging the blanket around her more as she turned away. 

“If something is bothering you it’s better to talk about it rather than bottle it in.” 

“I just, you do so much already.” Aleah started, fighting back tears. Caduceus moved across the garden, taking a seat on the cushion next to Aleah. 

“Miss Aleah?” 

“I, I keep thinking about it all again.” She started hugging her arms around herself. “What if I hadn’t made it to Essek’s? What if they hadn’t been able to save me? You all have worked so hard to help me get back on my feet and I almost threw it all away right there.” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she spoke. 

“I was so scared. I never got the chance to really thank you guys for everything and all I could think about was that if I didn’t keep moving you would never know what happened to me. I would just disappear forever.” 

Caduceus shifted over to the cushion next to her opening his arms in an offer to her. She leaned into the embrace of the cleric next to her as she cried. 

“It is alright to be scared.” Caduceus murmured, “It is also good to talk about it.” 

Aleah nodded, her face pressed against the front of his nightshirt. 

“We can move forward from this. Cry now and stand up stronger tomorrow for it. You will get past this Miss Aleah, and we will help in any way we can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading this week!  
> Just a heads up, no chapter next week, Nov 24th. I work retail and the week of Thanksgiving is always chaos at the grocery store. Your regularly scheduled Aleah angst will return the first week of December!


	8. Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aleah is slowly coming to terms with everything going on.  
> Caleb and Beau sit down with her to really talk about the Ascension and why they chose her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays everyone!  
> Sorry for being gone so long. With the holidays and Finals all on top of one another I didn't have the time to sit down and edit my chapters for this for a while.  
> Now we're back!

Aleah was still asleep again on the cushions under the tree when Caduceus got up the next morning. He decided to let her sleep a bit longer and get breakfast ready before waking her up. 

The house was quiet this early but he could just make out the sound of Fjord and Beau in the training room for their morning work out. He set about getting food going as the house slowly came awake. 

Caleb appeared first. Graciously accepted a cup of tea from Caduceus and settled at the corner of the table to read his book. The others slowly shuffled in accepting their tea and a plate of food as it came up. Jester was the last to come down, almost running in and scanning the room. 

“Has anyone seen Aleah? She’s not in her room.” She asked. Yasha and Caleb sat up suddenly wide awake. Caduceus poked his head out into the dining room. 

“She was still asleep up in the garden when I came down to start breakfast.” He said setting down another plate of food for everyone to serve themselves off of. Jester seemed to relax a bit now that someone seemed to know where their second resident wizard was. 

“I’ll go see if she’s awake.” Jester smiled, bouncing back towards the stairs. 

“Here, take some tea up to her when you go. She had kind of a rough night.” Caduceus said, handing her a mug of tea to take with. Jester got quiet for a moment as she took in what he had just said. 

“Is she okay?” 

“I think she will be. She’s just processing everything right now and it all kind of hit her last night.” Jester nodded again and turned, taking the tea back upstairs with her. 

“What’s up with Aleah?” Beau asked as Caduceus finally took his seat at the table. 

“Nightmares I think. She was up in the garden last night avoiding sleeping. How bad the other night could have been is starting to hit her now.” Caleb swore under his breath, closing his book and shoving his face into his hands. 

“She’ll get past this Caleb. She’s strong. It’s just something she has to process it all.” Beau said. “We have to remember that a month ago she wasn’t allowed to walk down a hallway by herself. The world is a scary place, especially when you’re not used to it.” Caleb nodded with a sigh. 

Jester pushed open the trapdoor into Caduceus’s garden and smiled. Aleah was sitting on one of the cushions under the tree watching the floating lights dance overhead. She glanced towards the door at the sound of it opening and smiled back. 

“Not who I was expecting but good morning.” She said. 

“Caduceus sent me up with tea and to check on you.” 

“Thanks.” Aleah said with a soft smile as she took the mug from the tiefling. They sat in silence for a moment before Jester spoke again. 

“Caddy said you had a bad night. You doing okay now?” She asked. 

“Better. I think. I don’t really know to be completely honest. Everything kind of hurts again this morning but I did climb the ladder up here which probably wasn’t the smartest idea with the shape I’m in.” Aleah laughed slightly at that. 

“I’m glad you talked to Caduceus about everything. He’s a good listener. We’re all here to help if you need us.” 

“I want to go after the Ascension. I have a feeling you guys will help me with that.” She smiled at Jester who smiled back in agreement. 

“Of course we will. Now come on, Caddy made breakfast and the others will want to see you. I can help you down the ladder again if you need it.” Aleah nodded, shifting to stand while keeping her blanket around her shoulders. 

*** 

Jester and Aleah stepped into the dining room a bit later. They’d stopped at Aleah’s room long enough for her to get dressed and leave her blanket behind. 

“Aleah?” Caleb asked, the unspoken question hanging in the air between all of them. 

“No, but I will be. I’m standing, which, for getting stabbed two days ago I think is a pretty good achievement.” Aleah said with a shrug as she took an empty chair at the table. 

“What do you want to do next?” Beau asked as plates were passed down to the two arrivals. 

“I imagine that no matter what I want to do I’m going to be told to rest more still.” Aleah said. Caleb and Caduceus both nodded. “But I want to go after the Ascension. First chance at not having me they try to kill me. I get out and they try again, first time I’m alone. I am most likely not the first ‘chosen one’ of their and I most likely won't be the last. They have to be stopped. Even if it’s just for my own peace of mind.” 

“Luckily for you tracking down a sect of the Ascension will take research and time so we can settle you in one of the chairs in Caleb’s library and get to work on what we know.” Beau said. 

“I can go over what I know but it’s not much. I wasn’t expected to know all of it right away and they didn’t force me to learn it. Not sure how much help it will be.” 

“It’s a start though. We can go to Essek and see if he can find anything else based on what we have.” Caleb said. 

“We can go shopping today while you guys are busy reading. We need to get a few things while we’re in the city.” Jester said with a grin. Fjord groaned. 

“If I send you with a list can you get some spell components for us? Once Aleah is fully back on her feet we’ll get back at her magic training.” Caleb asked. 

“Of course.” 

“Well, I’ll be up in the garden if anyone needs anything. If you’re not inclined to go shopping, Fjord, you could join me.” Caduceus said. 

“Cool, we have a plan. Let’s go.” Beau said. Everyone started moving to put away breakfast dishes. Caleb passed a list off to Veth as her and Jester gathered themselves to go out shopping. 

“Yash, you going with the others or staying here?” Beau asked. 

“I’ll go with Jester for now. I’m not very helpful when it comes to research anyway.” Yasha said. 

Everyone scattered about the house and Aleah took a moment to revel in the sound of people moving about it again. It had been eerily quiet the few days the Nein were gone and it felt a lot better to have the house full again. 

“Come on. Let’s find you a comfortable spot in the library and start looking. I don’t have much here but maybe there’s a hint we’ve missed.” Caleb said. 

“Let me grab my journal quick and I’ll be back down. I can handle the stairs on my own, don't give me that look.” Aleah said as she headed towards the stairs. They were going to treat her like spun glass for a few days which was fine but she wasn’t that easily breakable. She returned to the library a few moments later where Caleb and Beau were already waiting. 

“Ready?” Beau asked 

“What do you want to know?” She asked sitting down in the chair they’d left for her. 

“Whatever you have. We didn’t have much going in except for a mysterious group in the woods the town wanted investigated. They initiated the fight we ended up in there.” Caleb said. 

"Okay. What I have, which isn't much is this." Aleah started laying her journal on the table in front of her. 

"I was selected to be one of the 'blessed' as they called us. When we were young they found those of us gifted with magic and took us in to train us for something, I have no idea what. The original 'Angel' from what I know now was a very powerful caster of some sort. She was always just depicted as a shining woman with glowing wings." 

"You don't believe that though?" Caleb asked, picking up on the slightly sarcastic tone Aleah had taken as she spoke. 

"The icons and images of her all look very similar, like a practiced image. or an illusion. Any caster worth their salt knows some sort of illusion magic. It's a whole school on it's own. She 'Ascended' a few years before I was born I believe and that's when the church was formed. She told them more like her were out there and to find them and teach them. There would be one supposedly that would ascend as she did eventually. The high priest of my temple was convinced that was me. I was one of the most promising of the kids they took in." Beau snorted. 

"Do you know why?" Caleb asked, "And what happened to the other kids?" 

"I'm pretty sure. There were only a handful of others, some struggled early on and just became acolytes, one ran away like five years ago I think. They moved me to a different temple very suddenly telling me there was a threat and I needed to be in a safe place. It was a crazy few days. I'm sure there's still a few that are with them. They probably are looking to see if any of them are the next Angel since it wasn't me." 

"They told you they were pretty sure you were the next Angel over all these other kids? How old were you?" Beau asked. 

"Nine or ten. It's been a while. They didn't tell me outright but everything changed after a training day where they pushed it really far." Aleah smiled slightly at the memory as she shifted forward in her chair slightly. 

Caleb and Beau watched as Aleah's eyes seemed to shimmer for a moment before two bright wings of light appeared behind her. She smiled again at the shocked look on both their faces as she rolled her shoulders back and let the light dissipate. 

"I did that in the middle of training and they freaked out. Next thing I know my training is being accelerated and I'm getting more time at special prayers. They started calling me guardian a couple years later which i think has something to do with the information the Angel left them." She said sitting back in her chair once more. 

Beau was still staring wide eyed as was Caleb. 

"Say something please. I haven't told anyone that since the first time I did it. I was forbidden from using them during magic practice and only allowed to have them at all around certain higher ups in the temple." 

"Holy Shit Aleah." Beau breathed, staring at the empty space behind her where the wings had been a moment ago. 

"Yash will have a flying buddy during battle now I guess." Caleb laughed slightly. 

"What?" 

"Yasha can do that too. Not for very long but in a fight it's kind of handy." Beau explained. 

Aleah sputtered for a second processing this. 

“There are others?” She gasped. 

“They’re not common but there are people out there like you, like Yasha. The Ascension seemed to see something in you for that.” 

“She had glowing wings. It’s not a surprise they thought they got the special one. No wonder they didn’t want to lose you.” Beau said. 

“ Yeah, well. I could do without the getting stabbed at random. I get the wanting me to ascend or whatever but there’s got to be some order not to kill me. You would think anyway.” 

“Would be nice. It’s a start. Let’s see if we can find anything else. I’ll try and swing by Essek’s later and see if he has any information that can help.” Caleb said and the three of them dove into their research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to find a natural point in the story for ages to get in Aleah's race. One of the earliest story pieces I had on her when I first started was that she was Protector Aasimar. I'm so excited to finally get it in the story somewhere and start getting some concrete stuff down about the Ascension.   
> Thanks for reading!


	9. Seeking the Ascension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Nein and Aleah move forward from her attack they start to look for traces of the Ascension in the Dynasty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waddup Friends!  
> It's been a while. School has been kicking my butt lately and it's been a scramble to keep up with that.  
> Even so Aleah has been rattling around in my brain with every free moment. I'm super excited to get back into everything now that I finally have a schedule figured out.  
> Happy Reading friends!

Caleb found Aleah in the library still when he got back from Essek's later that evening. She was sprawled across the book she had been reading, her notes still out next to her, fast asleep. Beau appeared in the doorway behind him a minute later. 

"Damn. I was hoping to be back before she dropped off completely. I went up to get some tea for her from Caduceus. She'd been shifting around in her seat for a bit. Her wound was starting to bother her but she didn't want to say anything. I finally got her to fess up like fifteen minutes ago." Beau sighed, setting the mug down next to the sleeping girl and then stepping away with Caleb in an attempt to not disturb her. 

"We don't have much to go off of, even now. She's given us everything she knows and it's still going to be tough to find an actual location." She said. 

"We could try the Soul. They might have something." 

"Not here in the Dynasty though. If we are going to find the sect here that went after Aleah we have to find that info here. Did Essek have anything?" 

"Not yet. He's going to look into some things tomorrow when he gets a chance. I get the feeling he's been even more busy since the peace talks ended than he was before them." Caleb sighed, looking down at Aleah. "You want to see if Yasha or Jester will carry her up to bed or should we just wake her up?" 

“We should probably wake her up. If for no other reason than to make sure she drinks the tea Caddy made.” Beau nodded in agreement before heading back to Aleah. 

“Aleah, i got some tea for you.” She murmured softly as she gently shook her shoulder. Aleah shifted for a moment before sitting up blinking as she tried to clear the sleep from her eyes. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” She mumbled. 

“That just means it’s time to stop for the night. Caddy made you some tea. Said it should help you rest and heal some more.” Beau said pushing the mug towards Aleah who accepted it with a small half smile. 

“We’re so close though. Just a couple more hours and we may have something.” 

“Which will do us no good if you make yourself sick in the process. You’re still healing. We have time. Essek is going to look into some things for us with his sources and hopefully from there we can connect the dots. For now, drink your tea and go to bed. This will be here for you when you wake up.” Caleb said, tucking a piece of paper into the book she had in front of her and closing it. Aleah glared at him for a moment before taking a sip of her tea. 

“He’s right.” Beau said after a moment. 

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Aleah grumbled as she finished the small mug of tea and pushed away from the table. She winced slightly as she tugged at her wound yet again, the movement aggravating it after she’d been sitting for so long. 

“You going to make it up to your room?” Caleb asked. 

“I’ll be fine. I get my last round of healing from Caddy in the morning. Good night.” Aleah grumbled, stalking out of the library as best she could. Caleb watched her go before looking at Beau who shrugged. 

“She doesn’t want to be doted over and I don’t blame her. We’ll have more information in the morning. We should get some sleep too.” she said before heading out herself to go find her bed for the night. 

*** 

Essek stopped by shortly after breakfast the next morning with what information he had. He cited some secret shadowhand business to attend to when they asked if he was staying at all and left before they could pester him anymore. They’d been working through all the information for a couple hours when Jester poked her head into the library. 

“Yasha and I are going shopping for some things. Do you guys need anything?” She asked. Aleah looked over at Caleb. They’d been working through some new spells and she needed some stuff still. 

“Go with her then. Stretch your legs for a bit and see the city. We’ll lay this all out when we get back and make a plan.” Caleb said. 

“Are you sure? We could just send them with a list again and-” 

“Go, Aleah. Just for an hour or two. You’ve been cooped up in the house since your attack. This will all be here when you get back.” Aleah hesitated for a moment before nodding. 

“Let me change into something better to wear out and then I’ll be ready to go.” She said. Jester clapped in excitement as she headed out. A couple hours getting spell components and when she got back they’d make a real plan for going after the Ascension. 

*** 

Evening crept in and after a quick dinner they all gathered in the war room where Caleb and Beau had laid out the maps and their notes to go over with everyone. 

"There's no temple in the city proper from what we can tell. Members trek a full day out to a temple somewhere in here, on the edge of the ghostlands near the barbed fields for ceremonies. We're pretty sure we know where it is; it's just a matter of getting there undetected." Caleb said. Aleah was sitting on the edge of the table, one leg tucked underneath her as she circled an area on the map with her finger. 

"If we leave at the right time we can make it look like we're just another group of interested worshippers. The Ascension is always open to new people wanting to see 'her divine light'. Keep holy symbols hidden and all should be fine.” 

“We don’t have the moorbounders anymore so it’s going to take more time than it did last time but based on what Essek found, we have about a week to plan and get there, and we’ll need to allow some travel time since we aren’t exactly sure where we’re headed.” Caleb said. 

“So it’s right on the edge out there? That’s not a super safe area. How do they maintain the safety of the people coming and going?” Fjord asked. 

“From what we can tell, some hire help to escort them, others have magical charms to help their travel and some of the higher ups even get teleported in. It’s not abnormal for people to walk there though. Enough of you seem formidable enough that you could pass as hired escorts for the rest.” Aleah said. “I don’t know if I ever came to this temple, there were a lot there for a bit so some of them blur together. Unfortunately I can’t help with the temple layout or anything like that.” 

“We have a lot to do then.” Veth said looking at the map. Beau and Caleb nodded. 

“While you’re all here, I have one other thing.” Aleah said, “I would like to go with you guys to the temple.” There was silence for a moment as they all stared. 

“Aleah, are you sure?” Caduceus asked. 

“I’m tired of being cooped up in this house while you all go off doing cool things. I’ve been practicing when I can. I even carried my spell bag with me while we were out shopping today. Staying hidden isn’t going to help me adjust to the world as it is now. Besides, if it’s a temple I’ve been to in the past, I’ll know all the good hiding places and shortcuts.” 

“The ghostlands are a dangerous place. We will likely face enemies before we make it to the temple. We’ll have to work on some better offensive spells for you before we leave.” Caleb said. 

“So be it. I don’t want to be left behind again.” 

“Well then. We have a lot to do in just a couple days. Better get moving.” Fjord said standing from his seat at the table. Everyone else nodded in agreement and they started to form a plan. 

Tomorrow, Aleah would start training battle magic with Caleb and in three days they would head into the ghostlands again, in search of the temple of the Ascension of the Angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> As always, I love the comments and kudos.  
> See you all next week (hopefully)  
> <3


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